Images of the cross from the Old Testament

  • Preface

    Acknowledgements

  • Introduction

  • What the Bible says about the cross

    • Images of the cross from the Old Testament

    • The tree of life

    • The serpent’s fatal wound

    • Thorns–symbol of the curse

    • Our nakedness covered through the shedding of blood

    • A God who is prepared to die

    • The Father’s sacrifice

    • Passover – safe beneath the Lamb’s blood

    • Bitter waters made sweet

    • The smitten rock – God in the dock

    • Animal sacrifices

    • Day of Atonement – the rent curtain

    • The bronze serpent – look and live

    • Isaiah’s Suffering Servant

    • The Psalms

    • Death leading to resurrection

  • The cross in the Gospels

    • The emphasis on the passion and cross in the Gospels

    • Hints and clear references to the cross before its occurrence

    • The Last Supper

    • Gethsemane

    • The trial

    • The crucifixion

    • The burial

    • The resurrection

    • Between resurrection and ascension

    • The cross – the focus of prophecy

  • The cross in Acts

  • The cross in the New Testament letters

    • Christ’s death “for our sins”

    • The blood of Christ

  • The Cross in Paul’s letters

    • The cross and sin

    • The cross central in Paul’s preaching

    • Our identification with Christ in his death

    • Our identification with Christ in suffering

    • The cross and the wisdom of God

    • The cross and the challenge to godly living

    • Christ’s death and our death

    • The death of Christ and his exultation

  • Benefits of the cross

    • Forgiveness

    • Justification

    • Salvation

    • Reconciliation

    • Redemption

    • Sanctification

    • Propitiation

    • Adoption

  • The cross in Hebrews

  • The cross in Peter

  • The cross in 1 John

  • The cross in Revelation

  • Part 2

  • The cross and the Trinity

    The cross and the love of God

    The cross and the justice of God

    The cross and suffering

    Why Easter Saturday?

    God’s “Yes” of Easter Day

    The cross and history’s reversal of values

    Why the cross is not popular

    The cross and discipleship

    The cross and other religions

    The cross and our response

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The Bible is an amazing collection of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. These books were written over a period of about 1200 years, in 3 different languages, in several different countries and in many different literary styles – for example, history, parable, poetry, drama, prophecy, vision, oration, and epigram. However, one of a number of reasons why Christians believe that God himself was involved in the process – involving people chosen and equipped by himself for the task – is the way the whole corpus holds together. It is remarkably consistent in the way it presents the character of God and his dealing with mankind throughout history. It is consistent also in its picture of the nature of human beings, their accountability to God, their potential and their perversity.

Another way in which the Bible is consistent is in the meaning it gives to various symbols and images. The Bible often uses images, metaphors, symbols, and stories or parables to illustrate spiritual truths. It is interesting to note the number of times in the Gospels that the disciples, or others, misunderstood Jesus because they took him too literally when he was using a story or metaphor to get across a truth. Sometimes these images from the Old Testament are spoken of as “types”. Douglas Moo, in The Epistle to the Romans, defines types as “those Old Testament persons, institutions, or events that have a divinely intended function of prefiguring.”

The Old Testament is mostly the story of God’s dealings with the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, over a period of some 1500 years, as he prepared them for his personal coming into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, the second member of the divine Trinity (4). However, there is a very real sense in which the Old Testament could be said to be God’s Picture Book, a book that illustrates, often in quite vivid ways, the truths that are made more explicit in the New Testament through the coming of Christ.

Some of the most significant images given to us in the Old Testament look forward to the cross and in some way illuminate its meaning. Often these images are referred to by writers of the New Testament. It is always easy to get carried away with interpreting images. Some of the Church Fathers in the early centuries after Christ tended to do this. However, a good guide is to see how the New Testament writers interpreted them. If we believe that God had a hand in giving us the Bible, then we can expect some consistency here. So let’s go exploring in the Old Testament to see what we can find.

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(4) I have explored the question of why Christians believe that God is a Trinity of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and how this makes sense, in the booklet Understanding the Trinity.